Ian the Ice Cream Man

He’s Ian Carandang, 31-year old modern-day sorbetero. (It’s actually pronounced “EYE-yan,” but with his permission, I call him “EE-yan.” (Old pronunciation habits die hard.) It was Ian’s seemingly innocent purchase of a pint of Ben & Jerry’s at Duty Free Philippines five years ago that launched his life’s mission: better, bigger ice cream. “I had heard of Ben & Jerry’s before, but had never had the chance to try them until then. I was blown away by the names, the flavors, and the sheer sense of FUN that the ice cream was imbued with.” He talks animatedly with lots of hand movements. When you meet Ian, it’s easy to understand why the concept of “fun” in food is so attractive to him. The guy is loud and large, with an even larger sense of humor. I can’t stop laughing when I’m with him.

mmmmelting Mango-Sans Rival, but you can see how sizable the chunks are

I once had a craving for his ice cream so compelling that I rearranged my weekend schedule just so that I could have it. Since then, I keep quarts of said ice cream stashed in my freezer. (Not a good idea when trying to keep temptation at bay). Believe you me, this man is changing the world one pint at a time.

The no-limits limitation when it came to Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavors appealed to the artist in Ian. Before ice cream, he was actually a member of a band called Silent Sanctuary. A relatively successful band, they released an album that was available at Tower Records and even recorded a live performance for MTV Philippines. How’s that for big, hey?

banana on banana: Banana Bonanza is the scoop on the left

It was when Duty Free stopped selling Ben & Jerry’s that Ian was spurred to action. If he couldn’t buy Ben & Jerry’s, then he would do the next best thing: make his own. Armed with nothing but the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream recipe book and an old-fashioned churner from a US-based aunt, Ian proceeded to create his own version of the Chunky MonkeyÂ® (banana ice cream with walnuts and fudge chunks). “It was very icy. And crusty,” Ian laughs at the recollection. “I’ve come a long way since then.”

ice cream sandwiches made with Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough ice cream

And how. His version of Chunky MonkeyÂ® which he’s renamed Banana Bonanza is hale and hearty with lots of chopped walnuts, fudge bits, and sufficient banana flavor. Ian specializes in ice cream that’s big on taste, and he doesn’t skimp on the good stuff, especially the chunks. His bestselling Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough has gobs of dough as big as pebbles. Truly, this is ice cream that’s only for people who appreciate big, bold flavors and larger-than-life textures. Those whose preferences in ice cream veer towards the more delicate (dare I say ”˜plain?’) should stay away. However, for those who like the chunk more than the ice cream, here’s your holy grail. This is Ben & Jerry’s cranked up a few notches.

4 flavors in this waffle cone, but only 3 are visible

Other flavors in the family include the Choc-Nut Chunk; TobleroneÂ® Cheesecake with whorls of graham cracker; Mango Sans Rival, slivers of the golden fruit frolicking with cashew nuts and a wafer base (I love this one); Peanut Butter Cookie Dough which has a chocolate base; and speaking of chocolate, Ian makes a phenomenal I’m-a-gonna-smack-you-silly chocolate ice cream that he’s christened Chocoholics Anonymous: a deep midnight brown custard base with the texture of thick silk. It slithers down the hatch like chocolate syrup except that its extreme richness is goaded on by surges of chocolate nuggets and lashes of chocolate fudge. It’s a taste experience in gooey, creamy, crunchy, CHOCOLATE. You need courage to take on this mother flavor.

White Chocolate Macadamia is my FAVORITE, so it gets its own bowl

When it comes to ice cream, I thought that my heart beat for one and only one flavor alone: chocolate chip cookie dough. I must admit however, that I’ve met another flavor that has my heart under lock and key: Ian’s White Chocolate Macadamia. White chocolate ice cream snuggles with the Rolls Royce of all nuts, the macadamia. The interplay (foreplay? Woohoo!) of the nuts’ buttery richness canoodling with the white chocolate ice cream makes me believe that I’m eating a cold crÃ¨me Brulee. One taste craves the next, entrenching itself in my taste memory. This is ice cream that I eat and abandon myself completely to.

root beer float aka “Brown Cow.” When was the last time you had one of these?

Are these ice cream flavors the product of an overactive imagination? Ian chuckles. “I get my ideas from basically everywhere ”“ cake shops, candy stores, magazines, and food anime like Yakitate Japan. I try to absorb everything because I never know when a neat idea might fall into place.

Or not.

Every ice cream maker has chilly disappointments that he relegates to the dessert hall of shame. “I was most disappointed with Sweet Potato (kamote) ice cream.” Ian recounts. “Personally, I felt it was a tasty flavor but it might have been too unfamiliar to people. It taught me that if I’m making something new, I have to give the customer something familiar to latch onto. Additionally, my Haw Flakes ice cream ”˜Haw Delightful!’ wins the award for most inquiries and fewest actual purchases.” We guffaw at the thought.

This modern day ice cream man has big dreams for himself and the ice cream business, Sebastian’s, that he’s set up with a few business partners. Goals include a scooping station in every mall, and establishing a standard of excellence while remaining 100% Filipino. (Rock on Ian!). “Creatively however, I want to create that one unique across-the-board flavor like Cookies & Cream or Choc-Nut. If in the future I saw a flavor I invented being copied by Magnolia or some-such, I’d consider it the greatest of compliments.”

Comments

i am an avid reader of your blog but this time i just have to post. i love ben and jerry’s! my favorite, the cherry garcia. i was constantly buying pints of phish food (my rocky road fix) and choco brownie fudge. on the day i decided to be adventurous, i never looked back. another favourite, for those who like vanilla, is the haagen daz’s dulce de leche. leche flan in a tub. YUMMY! and dont let me start on the ferrer roche gelato i chanced upon one cold london day. still, i reminisce about my dirty-ice cream filled childhood. i wonder why atis (my favourite) ice cream never made it commercially. heck, it has been years since ive seen the fruit – atis.

anyway, kudos to you and your blog. i wonder when you’re coming here to london so i can see your take on london’s desserts, aka puddings. the UK is after all THE capital of the pud, so the british claims.

Before I left in May, I bought several pints of Sebastian’s and have been carefully eating them. An extended ice cream binge so to speak. My favorites are also the white chocolate macadamia and the peanut butter-dark chocolate combination. The choc chip cookie dough is divine. I’ve been looking forward to reading this post, Lori.

I remember reading a magazine before about Sebastian’s ice cream but it wasn’t a food mag, I think he was featured in mega or one of those publications a couple of years back. It’s great that he’s still doing what he loves and I can’t wait to try his ice cream!

my pastry chef hubby and i tried Sebastian’s ice cream last night in Alabang Town Center. We particularly tried the white chocolate macadamia. i would rate the texture very good since it has that silky smooth feeling on the tongue. However, in terms of taste, its just so so. The taste is too milky to the point that it leaves a satiating effect on the tongue. One can’t eat more than a scoop cuz u get easily tired of the taste. You can get extremely thirsty too after eating his ice cream. Just giving my honest opinion… =)-Mr.&Mrs. Pastry Chef

Wow, everything looks so good! I now have a craving for a giant ice cream sandwich rolled in chocolate chips, and a brown cow on the side! Even though it wasn’t pictured, I also have an urge to track down an egg cream!

i have your link saved in my favorites for such a long time already .. i love your photos and most especially i love your subjects 😀 this time i just have to comment on this sebastian icecream entry because i also love ben & jerry’s 🙂 i thought those yummy creations (i.e. ice cream sandwich and ala root beer creation) were also available in sebastians – i am disappointed 🙁 maybe you can have a joint venture with ian – a cafe where you sell your yummy creations using his icecream 😀

i have to say, though, i’m glad there’s a local sorbetero with the same passion for chunky ice cream. i always thought being a flavor developer for an ice cream company would be a dream job. so great that a pinoy is living that dream right now.

lori, why not ask ian to develop a flavor using chunks of your famous cheesecake recipe? that ought to be slap-happy gooooooood!

i just had chocoholic anonymous yesterday at ATC and im still thinking about it after 24 hours! sooooooooo rich and yummy… i think this is going to be addictive. they have a booth 2 blocks away from my place, in aguirre avenue and i would check other flavors soon. do you guys know how much calories there are in one scoop? just wondering.

There is no genius is copying Ben and Jerry’s. And Lori please, “move over Ben and Jerry’s your successor is here!?????!!!!!! ” What the… you sound too biased for a food critic.

Why don’t you just write about Ben and Jerry’s and not about the ice cream sorbetero copy cat. I have tried Sebastian’s ice cream and no… he is no genius. I hate people who think they’re all that! What a self absorbed guy Sebastian is, and he is waiting for the day that Magnolia copies HIS CREATIONS, ha ha, thats just too full of himself.

Lets give credit to where credit is due… Ben and Jerry are the real geniuses here. if you copy, then you are simply taking credit for other people’s work.

my first scoop was in podium.. then tried looking for their outlet along q ave. here it is like buying a contraband.. you have to register with the guard… will be led to a back area.. offer you a seat while waiting for this unkempt woman to buy for a 250 a pint ice cream?

come to think of it… at the price which is just a measly 30 pesos lower than ben and jerry’s.. and with a concept that was derived from the same icecream?… this is just plain copycat!.. nothing else.

Hey Guys!! you forgot bout Baskin Robbins, my fave ice cream shop! You’re always talking Ben & Jerry and there’s only one thing you should know guys! That we have Sebastian’s ice cream to promote our own Filipino taste although with foreign concept. Look at McDonald’s and it’s Filipino counterpart Jollibee. Sebastian’s is still new in this kind of business, let’s wait soon if they improve in their flavor. Thanks!

I think Sebastian’s is one of the best ice cream makers in the country. I’ve tasted a lot of their flavors and I’m never disappointed. I absolutely love, love, love (and did I say love enough)their Butter Pecan! I can eat that ice cream for the rest of my life.